Leadership and Management

A Leadership Story:
 A group of workers and their leaders are set a task of clearing
a road through a dense jungle on a remote island to get to the
coast where an estuary provides a perfect site for a port.
 The leaders organise the labour into efficient units and
monitor the distribution and use of capital assets – progress is
excellent. The leaders continue to monitor and evaluate
progress making adjustments along the way to ensure the
progress is maintained and efficiency increased wherever
possible.
 Then, one day amidst all the hustle and bustle and activity,
one person climbs up a nearby tree. The person surveys the
scene from the top of the tree.
A Leadership Story:
 And shouts down to the assembled
group below…
 “Wrong Way”
 (Story adapted from Stephen Covey (2004) “The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People” Simon & Schuster).
 “Management is doing things right, leadership is
doing the right things”
(Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker)
Five Functions of Management
(Drucker 1909-2005)

1. Setting organizational Objectives

2. Organizing tasks and people
3. Communicating and motivating
employees
4. Measuring performance
5. Developing people
Classify the following actions

1. Arranging training courses

2. Staff appraisals
3. Setting team goals
4. Organizing the work force into cells
5. Deciding objectives for the business
6. Empowering workers
7. Enforcing rules
8. Buying the workers Christmas gifts
Types of Leadership Style
 Autocratic:
 Leader makes decisions without reference to
anyone else
 High degree of dependency on the leader
 Can create de-motivation and alienation of staff
 May be valuable in some types of business
where decisions need to be made quickly and
decisively
Types of Leadership Style
 Democratic:
 Encourages decision making from different
perspectives – leadership may be
emphasised throughout the organisation
 Consultative: process of consultation before
decisions are taken
 Persuasive: Leader takes decision and seeks to
persuade others that the decision is correct
Types of Leadership Style
 Democratic:
 May help motivation and involvement
 Workers feel ownership of the firm and its
ideas
 Improves the sharing of ideas and
experiences within the business
 Can delay decision making
 Types of Leadership Style
 Laissez-Faire:
 ‘Let it be’ – the leadership responsibilities are shared by all
 Can be very useful in businesses where creative ideas are
important
 Can be highly motivational as people have control over
their working life
 Can make coordination and decision making time
consuming and lacking in overall direction
 Relies on good team work
 Relies on good interpersonal relations
 Types of Leadership Style

 Situational / Contingency style

 Manager first assesses the situation and
then chooses the appropriate management
style. Uses a mixture of the 5 styles.
 flexible.  Can choose a style that is
appropriate for each situation
 May cause uncertainty and insecurity as
the manager is highly unpredictable
 Factors Affecting Style
 Leadership style may be dependent on
various factors:
 Risk - decision making and change initiatives based on
degree of risk involved
 Type of business – creativity or uniformity
 How immediate is the change
 Organisational culture – may be long embedded and
difficult to change
 Nature of the task – needing cooperation? Direction?
Structure?